Four years after the Supreme Federal Court (STF) defined that ICMS should be excluded from the calculation of PIS and COFINS-Import, the Ministry of Finance has issued a resolution that guides taxpayers to request the return of what is has been overpaid. The guidelines are set out in Resolution No. 1, of the Undersecretary of Finance and General Tax Coordination Litigation (COSIT), published last week.
In spite of the delay in the publication of the resolution, it provides the taxpayer with the refund of the amount, since it establishes that it is only necessary to make the order of the return indicating the value paid in excess. “The Ministry of Finance will verify the amount to be claimed based on the information provided in the Siscomex (Integrated Foreign Trade System).”
Until now, companies have been making corrections to the import declarations of the last five years for the Ministry of Finance to recognize the payment of the greater value. After which, they were entitled to recognize the credits and use it in the deduction of the debts.
It is recommended to companies that have already adopted different criteria, to go to the offices of the tax agency where the request was made, to corroborate if it is necessary to replace a form or to complement it with something else. Companies that already have an ongoing lawsuit will have to wait for the process to end.
The resolution cannot be applied on the basis of calculation of PIS and COFINS. Last month, the STF decided that the ICMS will not be included in the calculation of PIS and COFINS. However, the implications that this entails and the application of the Ministry of Finance have not yet been defined.